Civil Engineering building to be named for alumnus

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – The Purdue University civil engineering building will be named for alumnus and donor Delon Hampton and his mother, Elizabeth Hampton.

The naming of the Delon and Elizabeth Hampton Hall of Civil Engineering is subject to approval by the Board of Trustees, which meets Friday (July 20).

Delon Hampton, who has made a $7.5 million gift to the School of Civil Engineering, earned a master's degree in civil engineering from Purdue in 1958 and a doctorate, also in civil engineering, in 1961. He received an honorary degree from Purdue in 1994.

"Dr. Hampton has a deep and longstanding commitment to Purdue," said Timothy Sands, the university's acting president and Basil S. Turner Professor of Engineering. "Naming the building in the Hamptons' honor is an appropriate recognition and will serve as an ongoing tribute to his generosity and leadership."

Hampton of Potomac, Md., is the founder of Delon Hampton & Associates (DHA), a top design firm specializing in civil, structural and environmental engineering, and construction and program management and planning services. He was a civil engineering assistant professor at Kansas State University and a professor at Howard University. While on leave from Kansas State University, he served for a year as head of soil dynamics research at the University of New Mexico's Eric H. Wang Research Facility in Albuquerque.

He has received the Edmund Friedman Professional Recognition Award and James Laurie Prize from the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) and the Distinguished Engineer Award from the National Society of Black Engineers. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a member of the National Academy of Engineering. He is a past president of ASCE. During his tenure, he proposed the creation of ASCE's Outstanding Projects and Leaders (OPAL) Award, which was approved by the board and has been given each year since 2000.

Hampton has served as a director of the Greater Washington (D.C.) Board of Trade, as a Malcolm Baldrige Award overseer for the U.S. Department of Commerce, and as a treasurer and director with the Center for National Policy.

The civil engineering building was constructed in three phases. The original building was constructed in 1950, with the second phase added in 1961 and a final phase in 1986.

"Dr. Hampton's gift will allow the School of Civil Engineering to build on its long history of success," said Leah Jamieson, the John A. Edwardson Dean of Engineering. "He is among the school's extraordinarily successful graduates, and it's fitting that the Hampton name will be an integral part of Purdue civil engineering.

"It also shines a light on Purdue's longstanding commitment to diversity," she said, noting that the School of Civil Engineering had the first Purdue engineering African-American graduate in 1894.